EU's Tusk in trouble in Poland

Tusk, Poland's former prime minister and the arch-rival of PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, won a second term in March as chairman of European Union summit meetings - with Poland the only country to vote against his extension.

Earlier Mr Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, linked her government to a "Kremlin plan", without elaborating. The EU official asked if current diplomatic tensions between Poland and Ukraine were a "Kremlin plan".

"Today, by using his position to attack the Polish government, he is attacking Poland", she added.

It notes that tense relations between the Polish authorities and Tusk have been running on for several years.

Her accusations came in response to a tweet by Mr Tusk in which he broached possible motives for a string of apparent problems caused by Law and Justice (PiS), Poland's governing party.

The European Parliament last week voted to start an EU sanctions procedure over Warsaw's controversial judicial reforms that could eventually suspend Warsaw's voting rights in the bloc.

Tusk's reference to the Kremlin appeared to link PiS to alleged Russian interference in European Union countries and Ukraine.

The tweet refers to the deteriorating relations between Poland and Ukraine after Kiev summoned the Polish ambassador on Saturday, escalating a dispute over a block on the exhumation of Poles killed in the Ukraine during World War Two.

Tusk "has been unable to carve out an active role in European politics for himself, so he is trying to plunge back into Polish politics, to meddle and intervene in Polish politics", Waszczykowski told the PAP news agency on Sunday.

"The Polish Prime Minister, Beata Szydlo, was not amused, saying, "(Donald Tusk as European Council President) has done nothing for Poland. Tusk also sided with member nations such as Poland and the Baltic states in their efforts to oppose a new pipeline connecting Russian Federation and Germany.

There are rumours within Poland that Mr Tusk could be planning to return to his home nation and potentially run for president.